HCA Healthcare Inc. has spent the past year saving the lives of sepsis patients with data-crunching medical technology that, if applied more broadly, could lower healthcare costs and improve care, an HCA executive told Congress on Nov. 28.

Jonathan Perlin, HCA's chief medical officer and president of clinical services, told the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that technology can help deliver care in new ways and also improve and cut costs of traditional care.

Perlin explained that HCA has used data analytics to change treatment strategies for patients with sepsis, enabling the hospital giant to save thousands of lives. Sepsis is an extreme, life-threatening response by the body to an infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because the symptoms of sepsis mimic those of other illnesses, diagnosis can be difficult. Perlin said sepsis is dangerous because mortality increases by 4% to 7% with every hour that passes without diagnosis.

For the past year, HCA hospitals have been using algorithms to monitor every patient in their hospital group, according to Perlin. The system helps identify patients with sepsis by constantly monitoring all the labs and data tied to that patient. Perlin said the system is more accurate than "the best clinicians" and excludes patients without the condition twice as accurately.

HCA has not yet done a formal financial analysis of the treatment strategy, but Perlin said 5,500 lives have so far been saved.

Other expert witnesses at the hearing pointed to innovations such as telemedicine and restructuring healthcare coverage as ways to benefit rural areas lacking healthcare providers.

Telehealth can connect patients to specialists that are local, Perlin said. HCA, one of the largest hospital companies in the country, has more than 200 telehealth programs, which have helped stabilize smaller, struggling rural hospitals, he said.

Epiphany Health Direct Primary Care founder Lee Gross detailed his company's novel method for providing services. Epiphany Health is a membership-based direct primary care practice that Gross described as the "Netflix for healthcare." Epiphany's patients pay a monthly membership fee for the treatment that they receive, Gross said, noting that a family of four pays about $155 a month for the company's services.

While healthcare costs have continued to rise, Epiphany's prices have declined since it began in 2010, Gross said, adding that the Florida-based company has negotiated bundled surgical prices with a nearby critical access hospital. This has allowed Epiphany to drive patients to the hospital that otherwise would not have gone there.